Singapore Open: Saina stuns Bing Jiao to join Sindhu, Prannoy in quarterfinals

India’s PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and HS Prannoy stormed into the quarterfinals after registering fighting wins at the Singapore Open on Thursday.

PV Sindhu in action.

Two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu, an in-form H S Prannoy and a gritty Saina Nehwal stormed into yet another quarterfinals after registering fighting wins at the Singapore Open Super 500 badminton tournament here on Thursday.

Third seed Sindhu staved off a spirited challenge from Vietnam’s world number 59 Thuy Linh Nguyen 19-21, 21-19, 21-18 in the women’s singles competition to set up a clash with China’s Han Yue.

Prannoy, ranked world number 19, notched up his second win in three weeks over world number four and third seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei 14-21, 22-20, 21-18 in an hour and nine minute contest.

The 29-year-old Indian, who is looking to break his five-year-old title run, will face Japan’s Kodai Naraoka next.

Later in the day, former World No. 1 Saina Nehwal overcame a setback in the second game to beat fifth seeded He Bing Jiao of China 21-19, 11-21, 21-17 in a match that lasted 58 minutes. With this win, Saina joins the list of Indians who have progressed to the quarterfinals of Singapore Open.

The 32-year-old from Hyderabad has been battling a series of injuries and lack of form in the past few years, which forced her to skip the selection trials for the Commonwealth Games, in April.

In the last three years, Saina’s best performance had been a semifinal finish at Orleans Master Super 100 last year. She had also reached the quarterfinal stage at Malaysia Masters and Barcelona Spain Masters in 2020.

The men’s doubles pairing of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila also entered the quarters, with a stunning 18-21 24-22 21-18 win over sixth seeded Malaysian combination of Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin.

A day after notching up an unset win over compatriot Kidambi Srikanth, Mithun Manjunath’s run ended with a fighting 10-21, 21-18, 16-21 loss to Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen.

Ashmita Chaliha, who had defeated Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan, also couldn’t proceed further in the tournament, losing 9-21, 13-21 to Han Yue of China

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